Chords, Double Notes As Ornamentaion

[Ritchie_Kay]

One thing that you often here when listening to good concertina players is the liberal use of chords (maybe with just two notes, I can't tell). I always find it very difficult to work out exactly what is being played - I just know that there is more there than a single note. I have searched around and although there is various information about the various chord positions on the left hand there seems to be no information about how to play them, where to put them, how to recognise a good chord (or double note to use). I recently heard a e minor hornpipe which was pepped up with just the e minor third on the left hand when the melody reached the higher notes. It was "vamped" and played on the off-beats. When I tried to play it it sounded quite good and made a big difference to the tune but that is the only time that I have been able to work out what the player is actually doing. In other cases I listen, think it sounds good but am clueless as to what is going on.

Does anybody have any tips??

Ritchie

[Tom Lawrence]

Depends on the player and the genre of music. My expertise is in Irish music...

 

One approach I use for chording is based on regulators use from Irish pipers. Usually (but not always) I do this when the right hand has the melody. Very common idioms for Irish piping are the following chords:

 

- A single D, F#, G, A, B or high C-natural accompanying a melody note. I'll also use E because I have one, even though pipers can't

- A pair, D/F#, F#/A, G/B. A/C, or non-piping combinations E/G, or low notes such as A/D, B/D, G/B. Also fifths, such as D/A, E/B.

- Often the note an octave below the melody note.

 

As for rhythm, a very prevelant pattern from Irish pipers is to either do a quick pulse on the back-beat or a long chord starting on a down-beat and held for one or two beats (typically a whole bar). When doing pulsed chords, I'll often make the chord really short, shorter than the melody's 16th note even, so that it doesn't overpower the melody line.

 

Pulse pattern

reel:
1 e & a 2 e & a 1 e & a 2 e & a  1 e & a 2 e & a 
    x       x       x       x        x       x
jig (two different patterns from pipers):
1 & a 2 & a 1 & a 2 & a 1 & a 2 & a 
    x     x     x     x     x     x
    x x   x     x x   x     x x   x

 

Another trick I like on concertina is, at points where it works, to play a melody note and keep holding it down when I play the next melody. Usually the first is on the left hand and the second on the right hand.

[JimLucas]

I always find it very difficult to work out exactly what is being played ... Does anybody have any tips??

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If you're talking about Irish concertina tunes (and I think you are), I'll let the experts in that idiom answer more fully, but...

... Frank Edgley gives a few examples in his tutor.

... Tom Lawrence has given you some further ideas.

... But if you really want to know what those folks you're listening to are doing, try Amazing Slow Downer, from Roni Music. You'll still have to listen carefully, but it's certainly much easier to pick out the details when everything is slowed down.

 

And if you're interested in "English-style" chord work, the tutor by our own Alan Day is an excellent resource.

[bellowbelle]

And if you're interested in "English-style" chord work, the tutor by our own Alan Day is an excellent resource.

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And, where IS that? How did I miss that? Maybe I have seen that, but I don't think so.

 

Ritchie_Kay, I don't know what type of concertina you play -- Anglo, English, Duet, etc..

 

I do have my own little 'chord dictionary' at my photo site, but, I just give M9 chords worked out on the English concertina. And, I am still learning to play the way I want to, so, I am no expert (nor am I a player of Irish-style songs, really!).

[JimLucas]

And if you're interested in "English-style" chord work, the tutor by our own Alan Day is an excellent resource.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

And, where IS that? How did I miss that? Maybe I have seen that, but I don't think so.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Oops! I should have been more explicit.

 

From Ritchie's description of what he's listening to, I concluded that he's playing the anglo, and that it's traditional Irish-style playing of dance tunes on the anglo that he wants to imitate. That's mainly playing the melody, with some melodic ornamentation, but also some sparse use of chords, octaves, or harmony notes. The "English-style" I mentioned is a style of playing the anglo, which is popular in England... i.e., English anglo tradition vs. Irish anglo tradition, not "English" concertina vs. "anglo" concertina. That "English-style" typically uses steady chord work against the melody throughout. That's what Alan's tutor CD teaches. It's available from him, but the style isn't suited to the English.

 

The English (people) also often use a chordal style on the anglo to accompany singing. I'm not aware of any Irish tradition of accompanying songs on the anglo, though there may be individual examples, like Niall Vallely.

[bellowbelle]

Oops!  I should have been more explicit.

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Okay, thanks...now I've got it!

[Ritchie_Kay]

Thanks for the suggestions. As you all rightly guessed I am trying to pep up irish music on an anglo concertina, which I am not very good at yet...

 

Tom: that is very useful information - exactly what I have been searching for but have been unable to find. I will now have to go and see what I can do with it. I should confess that it is, in fact, your recordings that I have been trying to decode - without a great deal of success so far.. But I shall keep trying.

[Tom Lawrence]

I should mention that perhaps the hardest part is deciding which chords to play. Playing them is a matter of mechanics which repeated practice solves. Deciding what sounds musical is more difficult. Some people (like me) approach from an intuitive point of view, aesthetically it just "sounds right". Others start with music theory to suggest possible chords, try them, and pick what sounds good. I'm afraid at this point in time I don't have a good way to put into words how I make this latter decision.